Disease burden stalks Northwest
Basadi Morokotso | Wednesday October 2, 2024 10:41
Speaking at the Botswana Medical Aid (BOMAID) stakeholder engagement meeting in Maun on Wednesday, Maripe noted that the district is struggling with a high rise of diseases such as the recent outbreak of diarrhoea on children under five years, which has unfortunately already claimed lives. Of the 622 cases recorded, 485 had diarrhoea without dehydration, 121 with dehydration and 16 with blood stained stools. She added that in the past three months, a total of 19 deaths were recorded, and that nine out of these were brought in dead. As a result, Maripe said they were left with no choice but to seek the intervention of the district leadership whereupon the District Commissioner’s office, Tribal Administration and Tawana Land Board offered to lend them vehicles to do diarrhoea disease response and outreaches. The Department of Environmental Health also stepped in with water sampling at hard hit areas within the district. She called for extra vigilance and calm amongst residents to allow them time to contain the disease and positively do away with it.
The rising incidences of malaria cases, tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS, diabetes, hypertension, maternal deaths, among others, are also said to have become a common occurrence, a sad development which has compelled the DHMT to be on their toes day in and day out so as to control the diseases as a prevention measure. She noted also that teams are on the ground doing indoor residual spraying, even though they are often times faced with challenges especially in instances whereby house owners are unavailable, reluctant or not cooperative at all. “We were able to score 60% of spraying in the past year. Our wish has always been that people should be cooperative enough to allow for this preventive exercise to succeed. We highly suspect intervention fatigue, but we will increase outreach. She highlighted that they have had engagements with village development committees, the Botswana Police and so forth so that they help facilitate prevention. Recently, also, she said the DHMT went to brief various sectors of the district leadership who in turn visited the hospital to appreciate the current situation.
Furthermore, the DHMT has since the beginning of this year recorded a total of five maternal deaths, most of which are suspected to be a result of post partum haemorrhage. She urged parents to assist by way of sensitising their girl-children on the effects of teenage pregnancy as numbers are also escalating. The meeting served as a platform for stakeholders to collaborate on strategies aimed at addressing these health concerns and many others. It was also a platform that enabled participants, amongst them health care professionals, both from private and government, as well as the district leadership to map a way forward in enhancing health care infrastructure ,increasing community awareness through outreaches so as to improve the much needed service delivery. The 2022 census regards Maun as the second largest village after Mogoditshane. They also extend services to 55 safari camps and ungazetted settlements in the Okavango Delta on monthly basis, on very bad terrain, which sometimes makes accessibility almost impossible. Besides Letsholathebe Memorial Hospital, there are also two private hospitals as well as 17 private clinics. Maripe expressed worry that of all the above mentioned clinics, it s just less than a handful that have heeded the DHMT’s call to submit monthly reports on how they are fairing in combating diseases and other challenges they come across in their line of duty.
She said: “We want to have a proper picture of disease burden as the DHMT, but we can only achieve this if we join hands in the facilitation of prevention and ways to relieve our communities in this that has befell the district.” She cited inadequate clean water, human-wildlife conflict, bad terrain, to mention but a few, as some of the challenges, which contribute to emerging diseases. As a way forward, she promised they will continue working on health education and prevention as well as to strengthen multi-sectoral collaboration. The district also recently established an independent 12-bed dialysis centre, which is expected to pin focus on diabetic patients. As part of the BOMAID on-going rhythm of life campaign, the parastatal has embarked on courtesy calls to their members and stakeholders as a way of strengthening relations. Chief Clinical Services Officer (BOMAID), Dr Malebogo Kebabonye, told the meeting that they pride themselves in having underscored the critical need for ongoing dialogue and cooperation among all sectors to combat the pressing health issues that continue to affect various districts. She said she hopes for conversations and companionship to continue for the betterment of service delivery.